5 things to know about Schiaparelli’s artist-centric AW23 Haute Couture show

There was a new sense of quiet to proceedings at Schiaparelli, which opened the haute couture shows in Paris on Monday morning. Sure, the rows were still shimmering with clients and influencers dressed to the nines, but the gimmicks that characterised Daniel Roseberry’s last couture collection were all but gone. “We live and create fashion in a time when creativity, internet-breaks, and celebrity gags come at us weekly, daily, and now by the hour,” he wrote in his self-penned show notes, conjuring memories of January’s faux animal heads, Kylie Jenner, and a Swarovski-covered Doja Cat on the front row. “Some of these aren’t even created by human hands or minds. Most all of them are forgotten by tomorrow. It’s why I wanted this collection to be aggressively, unmistakably human.”

To emphasise his focus on the human hand, Roseberry dedicated his collection to the artists that always orbited the world of Schiaparelli. “In this collection, each piece has been somehow inspired by an artist, either one of Elsa’s time, or mid-century, or of our own,” he explained, listing some of the works that inspired the looks: a hand-painted body informed by Lucian Freud echoed in a sequined body stocking; a broken-mirror cardigan and skirt based on the mosaics of Jack Whitten; and Klein-blue powder scattered on bodies and garments in homage to old Yves. The spirit of Salvador Dalí, inseparably connected to the house’s history, possessed sunset degrades, and the form language of Giacometti and Lalanne infused the jewellery.

It was an arty affair, but Schiaparelli’s exuberant contemporary clientele didn’t need to know the references to love it. This was fashion, darling, with all the strutting and sculpting and Philip Glass moon landing music they could dream of. In the process, you realised that Roseberry’s creations are so made for the digital world – so full of jump-through-the-screen value – that they need neither Jenners nor lion heads to make noise on social media. The opening look, a wildly asymmetrical skirt in corset canvas, pushed all those buttons, followed closely by a jaunty Klein blue hand-painted skirt constructed like a magnified folded napkin with a matching optical illusion body-paint top. The same could be said for a hand-painted “puzzle dress” patchworked from mixed elements that resembled finger paint.

Towards the end of the show, Roseberry amplified his more evident artisanal value in a series of looks that resembled different ideas of carving. Huge duvet-like structures in mosaic or paint splatter evoked wooden statues, an image echoed in large draped coat volumes that also recalled ancient blanket robes. The feeling culminated in multi-dimensional layers of majestic carved wooden jewellery. “Burl wood hands, plaster white lobsters, and the Inauguration Dove, our symbol and promise of hope, dipped in gilded 24kt gold leaf,” Roseberry explained. “Going into the unknown, when creative expression and fame feels available to any and all, at least for a moment, we wonder: what can break through? For our Maison, it is the power of design, the power of our artisans, and the power of the human hand at work,” he mused.

As illustrated by the clients who attend his shows, one of the keys to Roseberry’s success with a contemporary audience is his way with accessories and jewellery. Everywhere you looked, someone was wearing a moulded piece of gold or a surrealist shoe or some Schiaparelli-fied contraption. Enter this collection’s proposal: the Schiap bag, now constructed in alligator with hand-painted finishing or heavy wooden beading. It was almost the hidden star of the show, if it hadn’t been for the wonder that manifested in exit number two: the runway return of Tanya D, a millennial treasure of the modelling galaxy, who graced us with her ethereal presence in a trompe l’oeil cream coat, and served up a surprise way more fabulous than any faux lion head or reality star.